Village of smoked meats (Vinhais ~ Portugal)

31 August 2022

Vinhais is a nice enough town but does seem to have a bit of a disturbing fascination with these guys as evidenced by various statues round town and the large mural on the wall of the information centre.

At the heart of Vinhais is an old fort and at it's centre is an ornate pillory post, a place where in the past criminals would be chained to so that they could be chastised by the locals.

Vinhais is the centre of smoking and has a museum dedicated to pigs and the preparation of various smoked meat products, some of which were distinctly odd - blood and honey.

Other things on display was a rather graphic set of dioramas of slaughtering, bleeding, gutting, deboning, and smoking of pigs. With the last diorama being a celebratory feast of the smoked meats. The work associated with pigs is taken very seriously as can be ascertained by this gentleman's certification. 

Also in the museum was a rather fun display of pigs in various outfits and colors such as the war pig.

From Vinhais we drove up to Moimenta and did a rather pleasant walk though countryside down a 17th century bridge. Quite a bit of walking down and then back up and were pleasantly surprised at how un-knackered we felt at the end of it (though calves were quite achy the next day).

Whilst heading back to the car spotted a few signs for "Moinho" which translates as Mill so went an investigated. A couple of centuries ago three mill houses were used for actively milling grain and given the steepness of the terrain round here the water from the top mill house feed into the next and the next allowing for three horizontal mill wheels to be powered.

From here we head west to Pont de Lima (which I think translates as the Green Bridge).